How Bernie Helped Spark the Teachers' Revolt

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

I’ve been politically aware and involved with the union for probably at least the past seven or eight years. But really it was when Bernie started campaigning that I became heavily entrenched in the ideology that “everyone deserves health care, everyone deserves a decent life.” That’s when I really got hardcore about all this. Bernie put forward class politics in a way that was approachable to a lot of people I work with, they didn’t look at him as something scary: he was just saying we deserved a better life.

(snip)

Through months of build-up actions, workplace organizing, and countless online debates, West Virginia’s young rank-and-file radicals — in alliance with militant, nonsocialist teacher leaders in southern counties like Mingo — eventually succeeded in pressuring their unions to call a strike in February 2018. After nine days of shuttered schools, West Virginia’s teachers and school staff defeated the Republican legislature and, virtually overnight, set educators across the country on fire. For their efforts, O’Neal and Comer were featured on Time Magazine and Politico’s “most influential” political figures lists — yet, unsurprisingly, the mainstream media failed to note their Sanders-inspired political vision.

(snip)

Just by running for president in 2016, Bernie helped catalyze the deepest labor fight-back in decades. Imagine what could become possible by electing him “organizer-in-chief” in 2020. Combine heightened working-class expectations with a democratic-socialist White House, and you have the recipe for a potentially unprecedented strike upsurge — one capable of obliging Congress to pass Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and the Thurgood Marshall Plan for Public Education.

That future is finally within reach. It’s time to fight like hell to get there.

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/10/bernie-sanders-teachers-strikes-movement-building

[msongs]

1. key word is helped, along with millions of others the past 100 years nt

[guillaumeb]

2. Recommended, Joe.

Sanders has contributed to pushing the debate leftward, and countering the steady rightward push that the GOP has been so successful in doing over the past 40 years.

And Sanders knows that as unions get weaker, inequality grows.

[vsrazdem]

3. Just by running for president in 2016, Bernie helped catalyze the deepest labor fight-back in decade

Yes!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

30. Damn straight!! THANK YOU BERNIE!!!

Bernie/Elizabeth or Elizabeth/Bernie 2020!!
Either way, they're stronger together!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[myohmy2]

31. BERNIE and UNION...

...YES!

...

[ehrnst]

54. Bernie and his own union staff...

A former staffer for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, who has already accused the campaign of unfair labor practices, now has alleged that the union representing campaign workers refused to process grievances against the campaign.

The former employee, whose name was redacted from documents, says the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 did not take up complaints against the campaign for “arbitrary or discriminatory reasons or in bad faith,” according to a charge filed with U.S. National Labor Relations Board late last week.

This is the latest action involving accusations against the Sanders campaign. the same staffer filed separate documents a week ago alleging that the Vermont senator’s Iowa campaign had fired three people in retaliation for attempting to exercise rights under their collective bargaining agreement.

The original filing contains other allegations, including that the Sanders campaign failed to notify staffers that they had a collective bargaining agreement and maintained they could be fired without “just cause” for termination — called “at-will.”

https://vtdigger.org/2019/08/01/in-second-labor-complaint-former-sanders-campaign-staffer-alleges-union-acted-improperly/

[beastie boy]

4. I would suggest that Jacobin doesn't give enough credit to Trump.

Arguably, three years of his presidency had a lot more to do with galvanizing the unions and teachers' revolt, not to mention skyrocketing pussy hat sales.

[Uncle Joe]

5. I would suggest these problems as is the case with many others have been decades in the making

all this didn't happen in three years.

Trump is just a symptom of the long festering disease wherein corporate and oligarch supremacy has dominated in our society for at least the past 40 years and that didn't happen by accident.

If the disease is not cured, there will be more Trumps and they will be worse as the Overton Window has drastically shifted toward the reich wing.

[beastie boy]

7. Indeed. All the more reason to give Bernie and Trump an equal measure of credit.

The Jacobine article is about a recent wave of teacher strikes, and makes it sound like it happened in less than three years, with all the credit for it (the phenomenon) given to Bernie. As you astutely observed, it had been decades in the making. So when we are talking about recent events, both Bernie and Trump deserve an equal share of credit. Taking an historical perspective, which the Jacobine article chooses not to pursue, is a whole different issue, requiring a different evaluation of both Trump's and Sanders' role.

[Uncle Joe]

12. There may be some truth to that but teachers aren't contributing to Trump

Fueled by Teachers and Average Donation of $18, Sanders Raised Record $25.3 Million in Third Quarter

The presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Tuesday that it raised $25.3 million from 1.4 million individual donations in the third quarter of 2019, the largest fundraising quarter of any 2020 Democratic White House contender thus far.

"The billionaire class should be very, very nervous," Sanders tweeted. "The working people of this country are ready for a political revolution."

The Sanders campaign said the average third-quarter donation was just $18, "teacher" was the most common profession of donors, and Starbucks, Amazon, and Walmart were the most common employers of donors.

Sanders's third-quarter fundraising boom was "fueled by a September haul that set a Bernie 2020 record for total amount raised and number of individual contributions in a single month," the campaign said in a press release.

(snip)

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/10/01/fueled-teachers-and-average-donation-18-sanders-raised-record-253-million-third

[beastie boy]

26. Of course they wouldn't! Trump is a negative motivator.

It's the old psychology concept of pleasure and pain as behavioral motivators. But they are equally effective in soliciting a response.

[Uncle Joe]

29. Apparently today, Bernie gives teachers more pleasure than any candidate running

Trump or otherwise.

[beastie boy]

32. Speculative. As far as I know, AFT endorsed Hillary over Bernie the last time around.

And there were no endorsement for the 2020 primaries yet.

But there is little doubt that Trump gives them the most pain

[ehrnst]

57. So did the NEA. (nt)

[progressoid]

71. Actually, that was just 3 members from the the NEA PAC. Not NEA union members.

You may recall a rather heated reaction within the NEA membership about that endorsement.

https://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/hillary-clinton-teachers-union-214190

Top brass of the 3 million-strong National Education Association, the country's largest union, are recommending an endorsement of Hillary Clinton, according to an email obtained by POLITICO -- a move that has many state leaders and rank-and-file members planning to protest the early endorsement.

The email, sent from the union's campaign office, states that the NEA PAC, the union’s political arm, is planning to hold an upcoming vote “recommending Hillary Clinton for the presidential primary.”

[ehrnst]

55. "Pleasure?"

Perhaps they're unfamiliar with how he's referred to them in the past?

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2157403-sanders-cancer.html

[Uncle Joe]

56. Perhaps they believe his policies are much more important them?

[TexasTowelie]

10. That's the third time within the past few days

where someone has brought up the Overton Window. Surprisingly, I never heard about the Overton Window during my eight years here at DU. Since all of those comments came from Bernie supporters, I am curious to know whether all of you are using the same talking points?

[Uncle Joe]

15. Really, eight years?

JEWISH GROUP: Overton Window in action, neo-Nazi Paul Nehlen running for Ryan's seat

Wed Jan 31, 2018, 12:43 PM

https://www.democraticunderground.com/12233951

The Overton Window - Why Paul Ryan is a smart pick for the GOP

Sun Aug 12, 2012, 01:18 PM

https://www.democraticunderground.com/125168647

Dont argue with Trumplublicans. - Democratic Underground

post #10 Sat Jun 23, 2018, 12:12 AM

Gab: The Social Media Platform Where Anti-Semites and White ... Mon Oct 29, 2018, 02:51 PM
https://www.democraticunderground.com › ...
Torba himself celebrated, saying “Trump said he's a nationalist so the Overton Window is officially smashed, feel free to tell everyone you are an American ...

A Major New Study Shows That Political Polarization Is Mainly A ...
https://www.democraticunderground.com › ... post #6 Fri Mar 17, 2017, 11:29 AM
9 posts - ?6 authors

The political right has been expert at dragging the Overton Window to the right for decades, now. They'll espouse some far far right-wing idea, and when there is ...

You might try site googling and just use the word Overton Window, there are a bunch more.

[TexasTowelie]

20. I did not look prior to October 2019.

I guess that it is entirely a coincidence that it was brought up again recently and that all three references mentioned the supposed "shift" of the Overton Window. I'm amazed that three members composed similar sentences that appear as though only one person wrote all of them, particularly since one of those members was on a new DU account.

[Uncle Joe]

24. You mentioned 8 years so I thought you had.

I believe it's highly possible that different posters thoughts are triggered by our words here but I wouldn't give it as much credence if there wasn't a strong basis for it to begin with.

Do you believe an Overton Window even exists and if so, do you believe it has shifted over the last 40 years or so?

[TexasTowelie]

28. No, I don't th.ink that there is an Overton Window.

Many of the topics that Bernie has discussed were topics that I heard while I was a college student or shortly afterwards. I haven't seen much change in the political discourse since I became interested in politics in the early 1980s.

[ms liberty]

33. The Overton Window is a real thing, not invented by Bernie, and has been for some time now

I find it hard to.understand how anyone who's been here as long as you have has missed seeing references to it to the point of not knowing what it is, and thinking it was coined by Bernie or some bros somewhere. Good golly, this just blows my mind. The guy who invented the term and defined it is Joseph Overton, who died in 2003, IIRC.
I've been talking about this issue IRL for years but didn't learn there was a term for it until about ten years ago. I always phrased it before by saying that Republicans had dragged the center so far right that conservative dems are treated like radical leftists. It's a long way around to say all that, and I was glad to see there was a name for it. The issue is a problem, a big problem; conservatives have used (lobbied, bullied, pushed) the media brilliantly (blech, I hate to put it that way) over the last forty years, and now everything is discussed from a Republican frame. That is a big part of the battle.

[TexasTowelie]

70. I guess the terminology never registered with me or I did not observe it for some reason.

I don't think that the political discourse has changed though over the years. As I said earlier, issues about economic injustice, healthcare insurance, and free tuition are topics that my contemporaries and I discussed decades ago--long before anybody thought of DU.

However, when I see terminology used that I'm not familiar with, then I usually look up that term. The fact that the term was mentioned by three different members within a few days and that the sentences could have been written by the same person does seem like a strange coincidence.

[betsuni]

34. I don't understand the Overton Window.

At all.

I agree, don't see much change in the political discourse. Only for people who are completely ignorant.

[ehrnst]

52. Triggered? Yes. But I think we're seeing different people being triggered here.

[ehrnst]

53. Long memory there...

[Uncle Joe]

58. Thank you.

[ehrnst]

62. There are different ways that manifests itself.

Not all are good.

[NurseJackie]

59. Hmmm. Interesting, no?

By the way, I've been meaning to tell you: I've heard stories about someone (who's no longer posting here) who took DU so seriously that he (or she) literally kept an entire album of screen-shots and bookmarks, organized by date/poster/subject ... it was a veritable "enemies list". At first I chuckled at the notion, but then I realized how incredibly sad it was and could just shake my head in mild disbelief that the sum-total of someone's life could be so completely wrapped up in the discussions on an internet chat forum.

In any case, now that he (or she) isn't posting here I hope their life has become happy and productive and that they have turned to activities that aren't as compulsive emotionally straining.

All I'm saying is, even though I enjoy DU a lot... it's not my entire life. Even though I spend a lot of time here, I keep it all in perspective.

I keep a list of my favorite animated gifs, but not an enemies list.

[ehrnst]

61. I think that for some, it is their very life...

or actual job.

[George II]

76. Isn't "Triggered" the title of trump jr's new book?

[George II]

6. No he didn't. People are acting like there have never been striking teachers before....

1968: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_teachers%27_strike_of_1968

New York City teachers' strike of 1968

2016: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2016/04/01/chicago-teachers-to-strike-friday-shutting-down-nations-third-largest-school-system/

Chicago teachers go on strike, shutting down nation’s third-largest school system

1973: https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/09/archives/philadelphia-teachers-strike-many-schools-shut-strike-in-september.html

Philadelphia Teachers Strike

And many more.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Teacher Strike Wave: By the Numbers

Five percent of all U.S. workers in K-12 public education walked out on strike this spring. It’s by far the biggest spike in teacher strikes in a quarter-century.

The strikers included educators from North Carolina (123,000), Arizona (81,000), Colorado (63,000), Oklahoma (45,000), West Virginia (35,000), Kentucky (26,000), and Jersey City (3,600).

These figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks “work stoppages” (strikes and lockouts) involving 1,000 or more workers and lasting one or more shifts. The agency gathers its data from public news sources, such as newspapers and the Internet.



(snip)

Our figures for 2018 don’t yet include the teacher strikes around Washington state in September—or the big ones that may still be ahead this fall in Los Angeles and Oakland. Stay tuned! You can follow the BLS monthly work stoppage data yourself at www.bls.gov/wsp.

https://labornotes.org/blogs/2018/10/teacher-strike-wave-numbers

[George II]

17. The fact of the matter is that very little, if any, can be attributable to Sanders.

[Uncle Joe]

19. The fact of the matter is?

You use as a matter of fact to introduce a statement that gives more details about what has just been said, or an explanation of it, or something that contrasts with it. The local people saw the suffering to which these deportees were subjected.

As a matter of fact definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary

https://www.collinsdictionary.com › dictionary › english › as-a-matter-of-fact

[ehrnst]

48. The fact of the matter is that there has been no evidence given to support the claim

Last edited Thu Oct 31, 2019, 01:43 PM - Edit history (2)

made in the headline. Nor any neutral, expert analysis that supports the claim.

Just feelings and some stats that fail to demonstrate correlation, let alone causality to Senator Sanders words.

"After nine days of shuttered schools, West Virginia’s teachers and school staff defeated the Republican legislature and, virtually overnight, set educators across the country on fire. For their efforts, O’Neal and Comer were featured on Time Magazine and Politico’s “most influential” political figures lists — yet, unsurprisingly, the mainstream media failed to note their Sanders-inspired political vision."

Perhaps because they didn't have the bias to do so? Perhaps because they were inspired by the actions of their own?

The movement and the message have spread over the past six years. West Virginia teachers, furious about pay cuts and rising health care costs, stopped working in 2018 for 12 days and again this February for two more. While they figured out how they would protest their state’s education spending cuts, they started a virtual book club and read everything they could about the Windy City strike.

Perhaps Jacobin is the one who ignored certain facts in their tireless promotion of Senator Sanders, to the point of attributing, with little to no evidence, anything and anything that happens that pleases his supporters to Bernie's inspiration. The dots just aren't there to connect, Joe.

Actually academics, however don't have that directive or bias.

“That strike, I don’t think you can overestimate the importance of that,” says Jon Shelton, a University of Wisconsin professor who recently wrote a book on the history of US teachers strikes. “What that showed teachers in other places was unions could put things on the table that hadn’t been on the table before.”

.........................................................................

The resurgence of America’s teachers unions is several stories wrapped into one. It is the story of urban backlash to the centrist education reforms that prioritized using test scores to evaluate teachers and empowered charter schools, drawing students and resources away from the traditional neighborhood public school. It is the story of austerity, as many states cut education budgets over the past decade and with them teacher pay and benefits.

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/28/18662706/chicago-teachers-unions-strike-labor-movement

[greatauntoftriplets]

13. The 1973 Chicago teachers strike was just a few years after one in late 1970 or early 1971.

I recall because my sister was heavily pregnant at the time and she ended up starting maternity leave a bit earlier than she wanted. In those days, women in the Chicago public schools had to leave their teaching jobs once they started showing.

Beyond that, there have been several teacher strikes in Chicago over the years.

[ehrnst]

49. The one in 2012 was pivotal in inspiring other teachers to strike.

The Chicago teachers in 2012 showed their compatriots what was possible with solidarity and a compelling message. The strikes that have followed in West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona have proved that the tactics could work as well in rural Republican states as in Democratic cities.

............................

In Arizona, the scene of another strike, a veteran of the 2012 walkout helped the state’s teachers organize. Teachers in Oklahoma, Oakland, Denver, Kentucky, and elsewhere have gone on strike in the past year.

All owed a debt to Chicago.

“That strike, I don’t think you can overestimate the importance of that,” says Jon Shelton, a University of Wisconsin professor who recently wrote a book on the history of US teachers strikes. “What that showed teachers in other places was unions could put things on the table that hadn’t been on the table before.”

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/28/18662706/chicago-teachers-unions-strike-labor-movement

[betsuni]

21. There was threat of a strike every year when I was in high school.

One year they did strike, nearly a whole month. 1977 I think it was. Again, history somehow begins in 2015. Ridiculous.

[OldRed2450]

9. Ahh No. There are many reasons...

These grandiose embellishments remind me of someone else who likes to take credit for everything under the sun

[TexasTowelie]

11. +1.

I thought the same.

[OldRed2450]

14. Yes. It's a huge turn off.

[Uncle Joe]

16. Sometimes the truth can hurt,

I believe that's why Al Gore referred to them as "Inconvenient."

[OldRed2450]

18. I think the nation has had enough

of alternate facts. Can you point to specific data that shows him being directly responsible?

[Uncle Joe]

22. I believe the OP has powerful testimony with posts #8 and 12 as strong evidence

Last edited Wed Oct 30, 2019, 11:05 PM - Edit history (1)

that Bernie has been a major contributing factor.

[OldRed2450]

27. Those are all opinions

You know that. I'm asking for data not opinions. We're democrats facts should matter.

[ehrnst]

39. That's not evidence at all, let alone "strong evidence." It's not even related to Bernie...

I don't think that word means what you think it does....

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287329163#post8

Statistics that teachers are revolting more in recent years? That's supposed to be "evidence" that Bernie is a "major contributor" to the teacher revolt?



https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287329163#post12

Teachers aren't contributing to Trump? And many are contributing to Sanders? That's supposed to be evidence that Bernie was a "major contributor" to the teacher revolt?



As though he is the only one behind them.

https://www.vox.com/2019/10/22/20924725/elizabeth-warren-chicago-teachers-strike-k-12-education-plan

And certainly others have been more active examples of resistance and protest: https://www.thenation.com/article/demanding-votes-on-gun-control-bills-john-lewis-leads-a-sit-in-of-the-house/ But then again, some here on DU and many on Social Media were trying very hard to give Bernie credit for Rep. John Lewis' protest. John Lewis, for crying out loud...


I don't think any of the other candidates have ever referred to public school teachers as "old bitches."

[NurseJackie]

40. No! Really? --- NO! You're shitting me! --- Oh good grief! Sigh.

I don't think any of the other candidates have ever referred to public school teachers as "old bitches."

Totally disgusting. I can't even.

[OldRed2450]

45. I had not seen that before.

That's some hard core misogyny!

[Uncle Joe]

50. It's amazing to me that you can post all the dots and yet not connect them

but would rather throw out straw people.

No one stated that Bernie was the only reason including the OP which I don't believe you even read.

[ehrnst]

51. I read the OP, and the real straw man here is the one that

you are attacking that I said that you said Bernie was the only reason...

I don't believe that you bothered to read my posts.

You seem to be unwilling or unable to "connect the dots" on this thread.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

60. 1969?

We get to go back to what someone said in 1969? Interesting standard. How do you think Warren and Biden hold up to that?

[ehrnst]

66. And we have whataboutism for the bingo!

But since you brought it up, 1969 was after 1963, yes? So if something that someone did in 1963 or even 1964 is relevant, well...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016146288

https://www.democraticunderground.com/12511013941

[Cuthbert Allgood]

63. Also, Hillary Clinton was a Goldwater Girl in 1964. Disqualifying?

[ehrnst]

64. lol! She was a teenager. Sanders was in his late 20s

But really great try!



And I guess that means Bernie's "marching with MLK" and his arrest aren't relevant because "so long ago?

They were prior to 1969.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

65. You know Sanders is only 6 years older than Clinton, right?

But, really, great try.

[ehrnst]

67. Nice attempt at redirection

Hillary was a teenager when she was a Goldwater girl. When she was in her 30's she was working

Bernie was in his 30's when writing his "essays" on "the causes of cancer" and such.

But I guess you're saying anything that happened "that long ago" is irrelevant?

Like his March 'with' MLK? His being chained to a black woman? Prior to that essay on "cancer."

Which is it?



But...since you brought it up the comparisons - HRC went to work undercover in the south to investigate the number of children of color being denied a public education when she got out of college.

https://medium.com/hillary-for-america/uncovered-the-42-year-old-report-from-hillary-clintons-work-at-the-children-s-defense-fund-e2bba4a17908

Whereas Sanders left the fight to move to rural, very white Vermont, where the civil rights movement was non-existent.

Shortly after he graduated on June 13, 1964, with a B.A. from the University of Chicago in political science, he moved to Vermont.
............................................
Though Sanders’ early days in Vermont have been portrayed as that of a revolutionary, his actual life in the late 1960s and early 1970s was like that of any 20-something.

Sanders came to Vermont with Deborah Messing, his college sweetheart, in 1964. Recently married, they bought 85 acres in central Vermont that August for $2,500.

https://vtdigger.org/2015/07/09/bernie-sanders-early-days-in-vermont-his-life-loves-and-circuitous-route-to-politics/

[Cuthbert Allgood]

68. It's not redirection. You were factually wrong. He WAS NOT 30 WHEN HE WROTE THAT.

When you have to use minor wording from 1969 to discredit someone, that makes you look silly. If one is talking about a history of something, then, yes, the history is important. Are you saying that Sanders has a history of sexism?

[ehrnst]

69. Mea culpa - he was 28. He was past 30 when he was writing the essays about

women. Thank you for the correction, and prompting me to look up how old he was when he was writing these things.



But still WAY past being a teenager, FIVE YEARS AFTER college and certainly after he marched "with" MLK, and after he got arrested being chained to a black woman. Which are touted as very relevant now.

If one is talking about a history of something, then, yes, the history is important.

But aren't you saying that it doesn't count if that history involves Bernie, and try to discredit that public essay here he referred to public school teachers as "old bitches" because "so long ago?"

Because trying to have it both ways makes you look silly.

Are you saying that Sanders has a history of sexism?

Your words, not mine....

[Cuthbert Allgood]

73. He doesn't say public school teacher are "old bitches" if we are being correct.

He says a student might not like school because he has an "old bitch" as a teacher. Bad language choice for 2019? Yes. No argument. For 1969? Not so much. Still crappy, yes, but wasn't as socially out of line then. Does it mean he hates public school teachers? Not at all.

Yeah, they are my words. Are you making that argument? Because if you are, and are using this article as your example of that, we can have that discussion. If you aren't making that argument, then this data is completely irrelevant to whatever claim you are making.

[ehrnst]

77. Nice try at a pivot and avoiding the entire comparison you tried to equate the judement of

Hillary as a teen in a school club with a grown, adult, 28 year-old-man writing in a published article, with apparently absolutely no awareness that HRC was making a point about how different the GOP was when she was a teen in that much howled about NPR interview...

Are you saying that Sanders has a history of sexism?

Yeah, they are my words. Are you making that argument?

Again, your words, not mine. I've made that very, very clear. Expecting me to defend a straw man you set up and attacked makes you look silly. One could make a more solid case that you were insinuating that HRC being a "Goldwater Girl" when she was a teen was "disqualifying." False equivalence aside, that was rather revealing...

Also, you still haven't addressed my comment about how if Bernie can't really be held accountable for something not so positive he did in 1969, because that was "so long ago," yet he can then receive credit now for that which he did/said years earlier - such as the MLK March, and being arrested and chained to a black woman?

I can see why you wouldn't, however. Rather awkward, isn't it?

He doesn't say public school teacher are "old bitches" if we are being correct.
He says a student might not like school because he has an "old bitch" as a teacher.

Um...that is clearly his own term for "many" female public school teachers, as reinforced in the parenthesis - here it is again, in case you missed it:

It means this quite simply. A child has an old bitch of a teacher (and there are many of them) or pehaps (sic) he simply is not interested in school and would rather be doing other thing (sic), he complains and rebels against the situation, which is the healthy reaction."

If it was then the passage might have been "It means this quite simply. A child thinks that he has an "old bitch" for a teacher or pehaps (sic) he simply is not interested in school and would rather be doing other thing (sic), he complains and rebels against the situation, which is the healthy reaction to such a percieved situation."

Nice try, though. And I don't think that referring female public school teachers "old bitches" in a public essay was "more socially in line" back in 1969. Can you back that up?

Are you "making the argument" that Vermont was more misogynistic than other places at that time?

[George II]

23. I agree. Let's concentrate on the truth.

[Uncle Joe]

25. On that narrow point we agree.

[TidalWave46]

36. This should go down in the Strawman Hall of Fame.

Edit: Post 19 is also in the running.

[ehrnst]

72. +1000. (nt)

[LanternWaste]

37. Sometimes pretending an unsupported opinion is truths hurts too.

I think that's why Aristotle referred to them as "false reasoning."

[ehrnst]

42. First and foremost, the Chicago Teacher Strike of 2012

The Chicago teachers in 2012 showed their compatriots what was possible with solidarity and a compelling message. The strikes that have followed in West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona have proved that the tactics could work as well in rural Republican states as in Democratic cities.

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/28/18662706/chicago-teachers-unions-strike-labor-movement

[Act_of_Reparation]

47. People in glass houses.

[TidalWave46]

35. The arrogance is astounding. NT

[ehrnst]

38. That's a stretch. But then again, it's an opinion from Jacobin. And it doesn't say much for teachers

that they needed some sort of "spark" or "inspiration" from someone who has never taught in before standing up for their own labor rights, as though this is some sort of recent phenomenon since Bernie has run for POTUS....

The Chicago teachers in 2012 showed their compatriots what was possible with solidarity and a compelling message. The strikes that have followed in West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona have proved that the tactics could work as well in rural Republican states as in Democratic cities.

............................

In Arizona, the scene of another strike, a veteran of the 2012 walkout helped the state’s teachers organize. Teachers in Oklahoma, Oakland, Denver, Kentucky, and elsewhere have gone on strike in the past year.

All owed a debt to Chicago.

“That strike, I don’t think you can overestimate the importance of that,” says Jon Shelton, a University of Wisconsin professor who recently wrote a book on the history of US teachers strikes. “What that showed teachers in other places was unions could put things on the table that hadn’t been on the table before.”

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/28/18662706/chicago-teachers-unions-strike-labor-movement

[NurseJackie]

41. I know... Jacobin, eh?

[ehrnst]

43. Of course they give Bernie credit for anything and everything, without giving real credit where it's

Because for Jacobin all good things must flow from the hand of Senator Sanders. No dissent... however absurd the claim may be.

The Chicago teachers in 2012 showed their compatriots what was possible with solidarity and a compelling message. The strikes that have followed in West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona have proved that the tactics could work as well in rural Republican states as in Democratic cities.

............................

In Arizona, the scene of another strike, a veteran of the 2012 walkout helped the state’s teachers organize. Teachers in Oklahoma, Oakland, Denver, Kentucky, and elsewhere have gone on strike in the past year.

All owed a debt to Chicago.

“That strike, I don’t think you can overestimate the importance of that,” says Jon Shelton, a University of Wisconsin professor who recently wrote a book on the history of US teachers strikes. “What that showed teachers in other places was unions could put things on the table that hadn’t been on the table before.”

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/28/18662706/chicago-teachers-unions-strike-labor-movement

[NurseJackie]

44. In one regard... it's silly as fuck. In another regard, it's offensive and dismissive...

In one regard... it's silly as fuck. In another regard, it's offensive and dismissive to all those who ACTUALLY DESERVE credit and who ACTUALLY did the hard work and made the tough sacrifices.

[ehrnst]

46. White straight cis male privilege - still going strong.

The cotton gin, the boy's club of abstract expressionists in NY claiming the techniques of Helen Frankenthaler as their own, the Double Helix, computer programming, Collette's early work, and on and on...

It's quite status quo in the establishment.

[LanternWaste]

74. The Sanders Machine is very effective at claiming credit for all good things.

Fact is, the struggles endured by labor and the strikes to ensure fair pay and benefits did, do and will happen with or without him.

But we get it... in many instances, those struggles and fights are merely props to better ensure that Sacred Cows receive their due adoration.

[Uncle Joe]

75. The testimony in the OP came from teachers, do you believe they're lying? n/t

[ehrnst]

78. False dilemma, anyone?

As if they are speaking for all or even most teachers on strike/ or "they are lying."